The Sound of Silence
by aleace
Summary: One fateful choice lands Lucas in the hospital fighting for his life. Will his HCM finally get the best of him, or will he get a second chance at life?


**Summary: **One fateful choice lands Lucas in the hospital fighting for his life. Will his HCM finally get the best of him, or will he get a second chance at life?  
**Author's Note**: This is an AU story on the way the I wanted the championship game to happen. Lots of Lucas angst to come in future chapters. Sorry if the first one's a little boring but I had to get it out of the way before I could get to the rest! Please leave a review to let me know what you think!

**The Sound of Silence**

**Chapter One**

Lucas stood alone in the locker room, looking at the two pills that rested in his slightly shaky palm. To anyone else, the little white tablets would have looked like any other average pill, but to him they mirrored the epitome of evil.

Sure, they were probably the only thing keeping him alive, but only few quite understood how devastating it felt to go from being a star athlete to almost completely sidelined overnight. Still, he took the pills every morning, working harder than everyone else on the team in attempts to defeat the side-effects of his devilish lifelines.

But now, in the moments before the championship game, and most likely the last game he'll ever play, he was faced with a decision he'd thought about many times before. The way he saw it, he could take the pills and play the game the way he had during all the previous games this season, or he could simply slip them back into the hideous orange bottle they came from and walk out onto the court without a second thought.

After hesitating for a moment, Lucas decided to do the latter as he shoved the pills back into his locker and shut the door quickly before he had a chance to change his mind.

It was his last game, and he'd be damned if anything was going to hold him back.

Walking into the gym to meet his teammates, the energy and roar of the crowd was almost overwhelming. He couldn't help but reflect the happiness of the cheering fans in a broad smile.

As he came closer to the team huddle, he saw coach give him one of his famous "looks" that was stern yet forgiving.

"Glad you decided to join us, Scott," Whitey said in his thick Southern accent, momentarily turning his attention from the rest of his players.

Lucas offered him a smile and a simple "Sorry Coach."

The old man nodded understandingly and turned to the rest of the team, reviewing the game plan one more time before setting them loose on the court, hoping they could come away with the win.

The ball was tossed and the clock began to count down the remaining time.

Lucas ran up and down the basketball court with ease, free from the heavy chains his medicine had locked onto his body. His heart was racing and adrenaline pumped quickly through his veins. Everything felt so familiar.

Yet something just felt _off_ to him.

The annoyingly loud pounding in his ears wasn't something he remembered, and it continued to increase in volume and frequency.

On the other side of the court the ball rolled out of bounds, giving Lucas a few precious moments to catch his breath. Resting his hands on his knees, he doubled over, inhaling loudly.

He must have looked in pretty bad shape, because he faintly heard someone call his name, but was too focused on breathing to even attempt an answer. Each short burst of air he took in caused a sharp pain in his chest to grow in intensity.

Suddenly exhausted, Lucas felt his body go limp, the polished wooden floors rushing towards him as he fell backwards, colliding with the back of his head with a sickening thud.

The gym went eerily silent, sending chills down Karen's spine as she saw her son crumple to the ground.

"LUCAS!" she yelled, running from her place high up in the bleachers to the court where her son now lay.

Nathan was the first to reach him. Touching his brother's neck, he felt for a pulse. Terror began to rise in his stomach as he couldn't even find the faintest signs of a beat.

"He's not breathing," he informed the small crowd that had gathered around him. Everyone just stared back at him with a blank expression. "Don't just stand there! Do something!"

Karen pushed her way through the small mob. Finally able to see her son, she felt her stomach turn at his lifeless form. It was obvious something was terribly wrong; his lips were beginning to turn a deep shade of blue and the rest of his face was drained of color.

"Lucas!" She cried out again. She couldn't lose him too... she just couldn't... Dropping to her knees she cradled her son's hand close to her heart while someone started CPR.

Things weren't supposed to end this way.

They weren't _meant _to end this way.

**

* * *

AN: And that's the end of chapter one! I hope you all enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave a review! They really help me with the direction of the story :) **


End file.
